Semi-automatic rapid firing pistol with gas escape openings in the barrel wall

ABSTRACT

A semi-automatic pistol having gas escape ports in the sides of the barrel wall immediately forward of the cartridge chamber, which ports permit gas to escape from the firing chamber. From these ports, the gas is conducted along a pair of elongated gas transfer passageways extending parallel to and disposed on either side of the barrel of the pistol. At the ends of the chambers opposite the aforementioned gas escape ports, and adjacent to the open end of the pistol barrel, these passageways terminate in gas exit ports open to the outside air, which ports extend upwardly and to either side at an acute angle to the vertical. The escape of gas from these ports by reaction tends to force the open end of the pistol barrel downwardly and thus counteracts the tendency of the barrel to move upwardly and to the left upon firing. The tubular members forming the gas passageways are embedded in the pistol stock adjacent the firing chamber, and are retained therein by an annular jacket or cover which, in turn, is retained by a threaded retaining nut screwed into the end of the pistol barrel.

Unite States Rohr atent 51 May 30,1972

[21] Appl.No.: 869,060

[51] Int. Cl. ..F4lc 21/18 [58] Field oISearch ..89/1 F, 1.1, 14R, 14C

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,516,326 6/1970 Donner ..89/14 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,262,942 4/1961 France ..89/14 C 1,210,602 3/1960 France 86/14 C 128,824 7/1919 Great Britain ...89/14 C 301,672 10/1932 Italy ..89/14 C OTHER PUBLICATIONS Roettinger, Phil, 'Push Back or Flip Up" Rifleman, pp. 54- 55, May 1954 American Primary Examiner-Stephen C. Bentley An0rney-Werner W. Kleeman s71 ABSTRACT A semi-automatic pistol having gas escape ports in the sides of the barrel wall immediately forward of the cartridge chamber, which ports permit gas to escape from the firing chamber. From these ports, the gas is conducted along a pair of elongated gas transfer passageways extending parallel to and disposed on either side of the barrel of the pistol. At the ends of the chambers opposite the aforementioned gas escape ports, and adjacent to the open end of the pistol barrel, these passageways terminate in gas exit ports open to the outside air, which ports extend upwardly and to either side at an acute angle to the vertical. The escape of gas from these ports by reaction tends to force the open end of the pistol barrel downwardly and thus counteracts the tendency of the barrel to move upwardly and to the left upon firing.

The tubular members forming the gas, passageways are embedded in the pistol stock adjacent the firing chamber, and are retained therein by an annular jacket or cover which, in turn, is retained by a threaded retaining nut screwed into the end of the pistol barrel.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patented May 30, 197.2 3,665,864

SEMI-AUTOMATIC RAPID FIRING PISTOL WITH GAS ESCAPE OPENINGS IN THE BARREL WALL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is well known that semi-automatic pistols, particularly those specifically designed for rapid firing, have a very intensive recoil. This intensive recoil is due to the high gas pressure necessary for operating the breech block mechanism, and for producing high muzzle velocities for obtaining the necessary accuracy.

As is also well known, the especially strong recoil which occurs in rapid firing of pistols and whose line of action extends above the center of gravity of the pistol, causes the forward end of the barrel and hence the gunsight to deflect upwardly and at the same time somewhat to the left because of the twist or spin to the right to which the bullet is subjected as a result of rifling the barrel.

This recoil and deflection of the barrel prove to be especially disadvantageous in Olympic rapid firing competition. In this firing contest the contestant has to fire at the target five times within 8, 6 and 4 seconds. The targets are placed side by side at a range of 25 meters from the contestant and at a lateral distance of 75 cm. from each other, so that after each firing the contestant must determine a new target. Obviously, given this rapid firing cadence, it is very important for the contestant to be able to determine this new target quickly. It is therefore important that a suitable firearm be provided which exhibits as little deflection as possible upon firing.

In order to reduce the unfavorable efi'ect of the recoil moment, it has been suggested to provide the barrel wall with upwardly opening gas escape holes. The gas which escapes through these holes at the time of firing produces a downward reaction force upon the barrel, based upon the jet effect, whose moment in regard to the center of gravity of the pistol, tends to counteract the recoil moment. The magnitude of this counter moment depends upon the strength of the reaction force, and also upon the distance of its line of action from the center of gravity of the pistol.

According to a specific former improvement, the gas escape openings, described above, were arranged near the cartridge chamber, and the barrel mass (caliber, length and depth of the rifling, and length of the barrel) was reduced in order to achieve a high reaction force. Through these measures, which are more specifically defined in Swiss Pat. No. 458,l31, it has been possible, despite the relatively small distance of the line of action of the reaction force from the center of gravity of the pistol, to obtain a counter moment which largely compensated the recoil moment. However, in order to achieve this goal, a relatively large quantity of gas had to be discharged through the gas escape openings whereby the bullet velocity was reduced. Furthermore, the reduction of the barrel mass, which was necessary to secure the functioning of the pistol, had an unfavorable influence upon the precision of the firearm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved firearm which overcomes the abovementioned drawbacks to the prior art.

It is another more specific object of the present invention to provide an improved semi-automatic rapid firing pistol which has a reduced recoil.

Another significant object of the present invention is the provision of an improved rapid fire pistol which reduces the tendency of the barrel to swing upwardly during recoil upon firing of a cartridge.

A further noteworthy object of the present invention relates to an improved rapid fire pistol of the type used for Olympic shooting events which facilitates rapid aiming and rapid fire.

These, as well as other objects of the invention which will become apparent as the description of the invention proceeds, are implemented by the instant invention which is characterized by the provision of a rapid fire semi-automatic pistol comprising a rifled barrel, gas escape ports in the walls of the ban-cl adjacent the firing chamber, and a pair of parallel lon gitudinally extending gas conducting passageways disposed on either side of the barrel and communicating at one end with the gas outlet ports of the barrel and communicating at their other end with a pair of gas exit ports open to the outside air and extending upwardly and to either side, preferably at an acute angle to the vertical.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention itself will be better understood and additional advantageous features thereof will be appreciated from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, such description referring to the accompanying sheet of drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view through the barrel and one of the gas conducting passageways of this invention; taken along the longitudinal axis of the pistol;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view similar to FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing the gas escape ports at the end of the barrel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, the forward portion of a semi-automatic pistol is shown comprising a stock butt piece 1 and a barrel 2 having a rifled bore 11 therethrough. Also inserted into the stock piece I are a pair of small diameter tubes 3 which serve as gas guiding passageways. These tubes 3 are arranged laterally on either side of the barrel 2 and extend longitudinally parallel thereto. These small diameter tubes 3 are embedded in a jacket or cover which surrounds barrel 2 and tubes 3; this jacket is subdivided into a pair of axially aligned members comprising a rear or intermediate member 4 and a forward terminal member 5. These jacket members 4 and 5 are removable from the pistol barrel and are, for this reason, inserted onto barrel 2 and tubes 3 in a longitudinally slidable fashion. By means of a nut 6 which is threaded upon the end of barrel 2, the jacket members 4 and 5 are retained in the illustrated position. Front terminal member 5 has rigidly attached thereto a front gun sight 7. A position free of play is especially important for this front terminal member 5 in order to maintain the front gun sight 7 in a fixed position relative to the remainder of the pistol.

The pistol has a conventional cartridge chamber 8. Near this chamber 8, i.e. at a distance D of not more than 40 mm, preferably 30 mm, from the forward end of cartridge chamber 8, gas escape openings or holes 10 are provided in the sides of barrel 2 and providing lateral communication from the bore of barrel 2 into each of the gas transfer channels or passageways 3. These passageways guide the escaping gas forward to a pair of discharge nozzles 9, each of which is associated with and located at the end of the respective passageway 3. The discharge nozzles 9 are disposed to either side of the intermediate vertical plane of the pistol barrel 2 within the terminal member 5, adjacent the end of the barrel 2, and are directed upwardly and to one side at an acute angle from said vertical middle plane.

The bilaterally symmetrical arrangement of the gas escape holes 10, the tubes or passageways 3, and the discharge nozzles 9, with regard to the axis of the barrel 2, also renders the pistol so stable that the conventional muzzle brake can be omitted. Best lateral stabilization of the pistol can be achieved by disposing each of the discharge nozzles 9 in an inclined position relative to the vertical, for example, at an angle of 16". A further advantage is offered by the lateral arrangement of the discharge nozzles 9 in that the escape of gas therefrom takes place to either sideof the line of sight to the target and does not therefore interfere with sighting on the target itself.

Operation of the invention should be self-evident from the above description of its construction, but will be described briefly. When the pistol is fired, the gas produced behind the cartridge in cartridge chamber 8 passes through gas escape openings from the barrel 2 into each of the gas conducting channels or passageways 3. The gas, under pressure, travels through each of the passageways and emerges from the respective upwardly directed discharge nozzles 9. The high pressure upward escape of gas from these nozzles 9 produces a downward reaction force upon the end of the barrel and consequently a downward moment which counteracts the upward moment produced by recoil. Unlike prior art devices, the gas is not discharged directly through the gas escape holes through the cartridge chamber into the outside air, but is guided to the discharge nozzles 9 attached to the front part of the barrel 2 before being discharged to the outside air. Through this method, the distance of the line of action of the reaction force based upon the nozzle effect from the center of gravity of the pistol can be more than doubled over the known prior art pistols, and therefore the downward moment produced by the escaping gas is likewise more than doubled. Accordingly, the quantity of gas necessary to obtain the desired counter moment can be substantially reduced. Because of the quantity of gas that is in this way made available for firing the cartridge, the barrel caliber can be made somewhat larger in comparison to former known pistols and the barrel also can be made longer, whereby the bullet velocity and thereby the precision can be increased. A further advantage of guiding the gas to the forward end of the barrel according to the instant invention, consists of the fact that the gas, which is guided forwardly in the channels, produces a recoil reducing effect which does not only facilitate the handling of the firearm, but also makes possible a corresponding reduction of the counter moment required and a better adjustment of the counter moment to the recoil moment.

The jacket members 4 and 5 can easily be removed by unfastening securing nut 6 so that the tubes 3 which are subject to a certain degree of contamination can be cleaned well with a suitable tool.

The drawing shows two pairs of gas escape openings 10. It is, however, possible to provide for more or fewer pairs of gas escape openings 10, but the described embodiment of the invention has proved to be especially effective. The distance d between the front and rear pairs of gas escape openings 10 should preferably amount to between 4 and 10 mm, for example, preferably approximately 6 mm.

It is believed evident that by constructing a pistol according to the construction described above, all of the objects set forth in the introduction have been successfully fulfilled. Accordingly,

What is claimed is:

1. A semi-automatic rapid firing pistol comprising a barrel having one end thereof open, a cartridge chamber, means defining gas escape openings in the wall of said barrel adjacent said cartridge chamber, a plurality of channels communicating at one end thereof with said gas escape openings, a plurality of discharge nozzles communicating with the other end of said channels and opening upwardly to the outside air, gas discharged from said discharge nozzles creating a downward moment counteracting the upward recoil moment of the pistol, a stock piece, said channels comprising tubes inserted into said stock piece, and a jacket surrounding said barrel, said tubes being embedded in said jacket.

2. A pistol as defined in claim 1, wherein said jacket is subdivided longitudinally into a forward terminal member and an intermediate member, said forward terminal member having a front gun sight rigidly secured thereto, and said forward terminal member being removably mounted upon said barrel.

3. A pistol as defined in claim 2, wherein said forward terminal member is mounted upon said barrel and said tubes free of all play and is longitudinally removable with respect thereto, said forward terminal member being secured to said barrel by a threaded nut. 

1. A semi-automatic rapid firing pistol comprising a barrel having one end thereof open, a cartridge chamber, means defining gas escape openings in the wall of said barrel adjacent said cartridge chamber, a plurality of channels communicating at one end thereof with said gas escape openings, a plurality of discharge nozzles communicating with the other end of said channels and opening upwardly to the outside air, gas discharged from said discharge nozzles creating a downward moment counteracting the upward recoil moment of the pistol, a stock piece, said channels comprising tubes inserted into said stock piece, and a jacket surrounding said barrel, said tubes being embedded in said jacket.
 2. A pistol as defined in claim 1, wherein said jacket is subdivided longitudinally into a forward terminal member and an intermediate member, said forward terminal member having a front gun sight rigidly secured thereto, and said forward terminal member being removably mounted upon said barrel.
 3. A pistol as defined in claim 2, wherein said forward terminal member is mounted upon said barrel and said tubes free of all play and is longitudinally removable with respect thereto, said forward terminal member being secured to said barrel by a threaded nut. 